"Halloween."
"What Nightmare on Elm Street?"
The bedroom door was pushed open. Quanxi walked into the living room with her four beauties.
"You guys came out at the perfect time. Let's eat first, and then I'll take you to the premiere of A Nightmare on Elm Street. This is the very first horror movie I've ever directed."
"A horror movie?" Quanxi wasn't particularly interested, but her four beauties were highly intrigued.
"Lady Quanxi, it's been a long time since we went to the movies, hasn't it?" Pingtsi hugged Quanxi's arm, staring at her with eyes full of deep affection. She clung to her at every given opportunity.
"Do you guys want to watch a movie?" Quanxi turned to ask the other women.
"Halloween."
The other two didn't speak, but they both nodded their heads rapidly.
"Alright then. We can go watch your movie, but I hope it doesn't bore me."
"It won't be boring. It's high-octane from start to finish with zero bathroom breaks. Plus, the level of gore and violence is on par with Mr. Pickles. It'll absolutely make you fall in love with Freddy."
"Arata, why are... they here too?" Himeno, just like Aki Hayakawa last night, was highly on guard against Quanxi.
"Because they didn't have a place to stay, I arranged for them to crash at Aki-kun's place."
"Don't just stand by the door, come on in. Once we finish eating, we'll head to the theater."
"It's even playing in a theater?!" Himeno had thought they were just going to gather around and watch it at home, but they were actually going to a much more conspicuous movie theater.
"I had Natsume find someone to book an entire screening room for me. If you know anyone who wants to watch a movie, you can invite them to watch for free."
"Forget it. The fewer people who know about a horror movie, the better. If someone found out that Division 4 collectively went to watch a horror flick, it wouldn't be a good look." Himeno didn't forget to close the door behind her as she spoke.
"Himeno-senpai, is Miss Makima back yet?" Denji asked. Mentioning movies reminded him of his date with Makima, and now that they were going to the movies again, she wasn't around.
"Miss Makima called me. She said she went to visit a friend in the countryside and won't be back for a few days."
"Makima went to be a country mouse," Arata chimed in. "This time, you can just go to the movies with Reze."
"Let's eat." While everyone was chatting, Aki Hayakawa had already filled the dining table with breakfast.
Egg fried rice, pickled vegetables, natto, miso soup, and saltwater fish.
After breakfast, Arata drove a van, taking everyone to the movie theater.
Even though there were five fiends coming along for the screening, fiends serving as Public Safety devil hunters was no longer an uncommon sight. As long as they didn't exhibit open hostility toward humans, people generally turned a blind eye.
"Hello, welcome. The first showing of Morty will begin at 9:30."
"I'm the one who booked the private screening room today." Arata flashed his Public Safety ID.
"Please wait a moment." The ticket clerk called over the manager.
After verifying the information, the manager led Arata and the group to Screening Room No. 2.
"Shall we start the playback for you now?"
"Yes. Natsume already gave you the movie files, right?"
"They were handed over to us last night, and our theater will absolutely keep this confidential for you."
"Excellent. You may leave."
Entering the screening room, everyone found suitable seats and sat down.
The Division 4 members sat in the middle row. Himeno sat between Arata and Aki-kun. Denji sat on Arata's other side, with Reze sitting next to Denji. Arai and Kobeni sat in order next to Aki Hayakawa.
Meanwhile, Quanxi and her women took the very last row. They didn't want to sit too close to Division 4.
The theater lights automatically dimmed.
An image appeared on the silver screen.
The first scene was a blue sky with white clouds. Flocks of birds were flying in the sky. As the camera panned down, green grass, blooming flowers, and butterflies fluttered about. The endless, sprawling meadow gave off an incredibly cozy and comforting vibe.
"Arata, are you sure you filmed a horror movie?" Himeno was the first to ask.
"Arata-senpai is probably trying to create a contrasting effect for the film. Starting off with a warm, cozy feeling so that when the bloody scenes appear later, they hit harder," Arai proactively explained on Arata's behalf.
Let alone a movie, Arai could probably convince people that Arata's crap smelled like roses.
"It's definitely a horror movie, and it's nonstop action. But I have no memory of this opening shot. The post-production team must have secretly added this intro without telling me."
"You even had people helping you with post-production? Arata, not only are you powerful, but your financial backing is insane too."
"I definitely have the funds, but Natsume is the one who found the connections for me."
"Why don't I see Natsume here?"
"I called him, but nobody answered. He's probably busy. The movie was originally supposed to open with a dream chase sequence, but they turned it into a My Little Pony style intro."
"Kobeni, don't be scared. Watching more of Arata-senpai's horror movies will help boost your courage."
"That's right, Kobeni, take your hands off your face."
Hearing Arata's words, Kobeni finally lowered her hands and placed them on her knees.
In the back, Quanxi had already started yawning the moment she saw the opening scene.
"Miss Makima!" Denji suddenly exclaimed. He hadn't expected Makima to appear in the movie as well.
Hearing Denji's shout, Arata immediately snapped his attention back to the movie.
"Why is Miss Makima crawling on the ground?"
"What is that thing around Miss Makima's neck?"
"Arata, don't tell me you had Miss Makima play the young mother?! Didn't you say I was going to be the female lead?"
Makima's figure in the movie drew a mix of different reactions from the crowd. Some were shocked, while others were pleasantly surprised. Because they had never seen Makima crawling on the ground on all fours like a dog before. And she even rolled over like a dog.
Holy shit, what are they playing?! Arata was completely stunned. Why was his private stash suddenly playing on the big screen?! And being watched simultaneously by over a dozen people!
If they saw the dog-training scenes that followed, everyone's eyeballs would literally pop out of their sockets.
"My Master is in it too, but it looks like he's walking something on a leash."
"It's probably a dog. You can clearly tell that's a dog leash in his hand," Himeno, having owned a dog, naturally recognized it.
"Don't tell me he's walking Makima on a leash." Even while stuffing her face from a massive bucket of popcorn, Power still possessed zero verbal filter.
But she had, in fact, hit the nail right on the head.
In the next second, the camera angle began to slowly pan down.
Just as everyone widened their eyes, anticipating exactly what Arata was walking on that leash...
DING!!!!!
The Third-Level Dream Realm (Tsukuyomi) suddenly descended upon everyone.
If he had been even one second later, everyone would have discovered Makima's secret.
"That was close!" Arata patted his sturdy pecs and let out a long sigh of relief.
The movie was still playing on screen. The scene of Makima being walked on a leash appeared in full view.
However, everyone else was already trapped in the dream realm. In their dreams, the scene they were watching was Arata walking a Labrador retriever. Originally, the next scene was supposed to be running into Aki Hayakawa and Himeno wearing couple's outfits, but in the dream, they saw two total strangers instead.
Taking advantage of the time everyone was watching the "movie" in their dreams, Arata rushed over and swapped out the video files playing in the projection booth. Then, the movie in the dream realm also stopped playing, replaced by Arata standing up in the dream to explain that the wrong movie had been queued.
Once the new movie began playing, he dispelled the Third-Level Dream Realm on everyone, creating a seamless transition.
In an act of absolute stealth, he successfully swapped out Makima's Taming Diary (Part 2) for A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The explosive dream chase sequence at the beginning of the actual movie deeply satisfied the audience. It was even more bloody and gory than reality.
But at this point, Arata was no longer in the mood to watch the movie. The moment he stepped out of the screening room, he immediately dialed Natsume Noriyuki's number.
[Patreon just got updated with new drops.... (till chapter 170)]
Want to read more??
Checkout my patreon patreon.com/cw/AfrikaanPolarBear Here you can read 50 chapters ahead everyone and also support this fic. Consider subscribing as it'll motivate me and also help this fic.
: )
Thanks you!!!